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Issues with March Pump

Northern Brewer General
#1

I’ve had my March pump for ~8 years now and never had any major issues with it. I run it on my custom 15 gal RIM system. Then two batches ago it started acting up towards the end. It does this thing where I turn it on, it starts and then within one second I hear it make a noise like it dips in power and then it basically acts like it’s lost prime and stops pumping. It happened at the end of a batch so I just moved some stuff around and (slowly) chilled through gravity feed. I tested it out with room temperature water a few days before my next brew and it worked fine for 10 min+ so I didn’t attempt to fix anything.

I brewed yesterday and it started acting up a little during recirc. It would do it’s weird thing about once every five minutes. Then I went to finish up and chill and same thing as last time–it would dip and lose prime after just a second.

I’ve heard of people replacing the impeller in these and it looks straight forward. I could do that but was wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this before I start dismantling. It’s attached to some hard piping that would be a semi-pain to remove. The problem almost acts like it’s an issue with the motor but it seems greatly influenced by fluid temperature.

Any thoughts?

#2

Have you taken the pumphead off and given it a good cleaning? Check the impeller shaft too. There might be some gunk in there.

#3

I have had that happen too and my impeller/magnet assembly was uncoupling from the motor. It only happens when I have a few gallons in my 25 gallon pot (less NPSHR) so to make it stop, I throttle back on the discharge valve. I have the 809HS pump with an 815 impeller in it.

#4

[quote=“beeristhemindkiller”]The problem almost acts like it’s an issue with the motor but it seems greatly influenced by fluid temperature.[/quote]If the pump is failing as the temp increases, pull the impeller and clean off any build-up on the stator, see if that fixes the problem.

#5

Email walter@marchpump.com
He will help you out.

#6

Magnets get weaker at higher temps. Maybe your thrust washer is worn out and its dragging enough that at the higher temp it won’t go. You can buy a kit with the new impeller, thrust washer and oring on ebay. But certainly ask Walter first.

#7

I have tried throttling it back and that didn’t work unfortunately. I started from 0% when I turned it on and slowly opened to 100%.

I’ve never taken the pump apart in all the years I’ve owned it but I have run plenty of sanitizer and cleaner through it. Like I said, it’s a bit of a pain to access and disassemble but I guess I should bite the bullet. Now I’m worried as to what I’ll find in there.

Thanks for the email address 'keg. I’ve heard of Walter before on older threads so I wasn’t sure if he was still around. I’ll give him a shout. If anyone knows, it’ll be him.

#8

I heard back from Walter already. For any who are interested, here’s his reply:

There are two common problems I have come to find with home brewers. First is if the pumps are not cleaned out properly after each use then they can get a sugar buildup on the inside of the impeller and it hardens up. Next go round when you brew, when the temp rises up and the impeller expands a little bit, it will seize slightly on the shaft and the magnet will de-couple and you will loose all pumping action. The second issue is the Teflon thrust washer wears out and the impeller rubs up against the front housing also de-coupling the impeller.
The first problem can be solved by drilling out the impeller bore with a 17/64” drill bit. That will open it up a few thousands more and give more clearance for liquid to get in between the shaft and impeller.

The thrust washer issue can only be solved with a new one if it’s missing. I know a few guys have gone a found some washer locally at hardware stores. the washer is 13/32” wide…has a 1/4” hole to fit on the shaft…and its .032 (a little bigger than 1/32”) thick…if you can something fairly close then you should be good to go.

#9

Walter’s the man for all things March! :cheers:

#10

They are super easy to pull apart for an inspection and good cleaning.

#11

Thanks for all the help yesterday, everyone. Fingers crossed that one of these things works.

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